Neil Gaiman talks about his love for art, writing novels and his unique connection to Dallas

Art has served as a source of joy and inspiration for Neil Gaiman, the writer behind various novels (Coraline, Good Omens, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, etc), comic books (The Sandman, and more), and TV shows throughout his career.

“I love being around art. Ever since I was a young writer, I’ve been really fortunate in that I’ve been working with artists,” Gaiman told WFAA. “So, starting out in comics, you get really spoiled because there’s art everywhere, and sometimes, the artists give you art, and sometimes you fall in love with something and you buy a piece of art from them.”

Now. as more than 100 pieces of original comic book art and other collectibles belonging to Gaiman, many of which were gifted to him by other artists and writers, go up for auction through Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, Gaiman is sharing the joy the pieces brought him with others.

He got the idea to do the auction from his friend Geoff Notkin, who starred in the show “Meteorite Men” and played drums in a punk band with him when they were children. Notkin eventually auctioned off some of his meteorites.

“[Notkin] had two huge reasons for auctioning off these meteorites. One of which was they had given him joy for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and he thought it was time that they could give other people joy, and the other was going there are charities out there, I can give money to them, which he did,” Gaiman said. “Geoff kept saying to me, ‘You should do one of these.’”